50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE WrestleMania

Roman Reigns has headlined WrestleMania as a singles star eight times. He’s actually main-evented nine times if you include a tag-team bout with The Rock during 40’s opening night, but eight different 'Mania weekends have witnessed Roman play a starring role in WWE's plans. In-ring, the first four really struggled to get going, which becomes clear when watching them in short order.

Bouts vs. Brock Lesnar at 31, Triple H at 32, The Undertaker at 33 and Brock again at 34 were all hard to watch again. It’s a good thing that WWE chiefs showed patience with Reigns, because his 'Tribal Chief' run since 2020 has been sweet, but these weren’t enjoyable to sit through again. All four shows featured superior matches on the card that would’ve been better show-closers than anything Reigns-related.

Of course, the fact Seth Rollins was cashing in Money In The Bank at 31 meant Roman vs. Brock had to close.

There's a lot WWE wants you to forget about the clumsy way they booked Reigns as a top guy between 2014-2020. His 'Big Dog' run had some mortifying moments, and some of the main events he worked on pay-per-view were rather forced. Being brutally honest, Roman didn't have a truly great WrestleMania main event until 37's triple threat with Edge and Daniel Bryan. That was in 2021!

In-ring quality hadn't always been the most important thing for 'Mania headliners traditionally, but even other pet projects like Hulk Hogan produced the goods more often than not. Or, at least, he gave the core audience what they wanted to see. It'd be a while before Reigns was able to do that.